If you asked me 14 years ago, when Max’s first opened its doors, whether I envisioned us being a destination store for wedding jewelry, I would have said “no way”. Not that there’s anything wrong with selling wedding jewelry of course — it’s just that it wasn’t anywhere on my radar screen. Our mission was to sell “jewelry as art, and art as jewelry” and I wasn’t thinking about engagement rings or wedding bands as a part of this.
Fast forward to today, and I am really proud to say that we have received many wedding jewelry accolades. The most recent of these was being awarded the the 2019 Judges Choice Diamond Award for Jewelry by Minneapolis St. Paul Weddings Magazine! Here’s what is so interesting (I think) about our wedding business: it became “a thing” and grew because of our customers. In the early days of the store, it was brides-to-be coming looking for something non-traditional — no diamonds, possibly sapphires and, most likely, a band rather than a ring with a center stone. Something “artful”. Timing wise, this coincided with the emergence of the phrase “alternative bridal”. I have to admit that I’ve never been a huge fan of that term as I believe that some people tend to interpret the word alternative in a negative way, but I certainly understand the intent. An option to a traditional center stone, 4-prong diamond ring. Alternative metals (there’s that word again) and maybe even diamonds that aren’t white (yep, diamonds come in a myriad of colors). Because our customers were buying the types of rings we were selling as engagement and wedding rings, we decided to go into the wedding business in a big way. The selection is quite large and wide and — get this — we even have some options (and will soon have more) that are more traditional in addition to those that are more contemporary. We’d love for you to take a look at our assortment of rings (more than 20 of our designers have rings in their collections that make great wedding choices) and let us know what you think, as our wedding business is both about you and because of you!